LeonorColangelo at 02:27, 9 February 2026

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{{Short description|Brahmana text}}
[[File:Aitareya Brahmana, pages 1r 1v 2r 2v, folio 3a, Schoenberg Center manuscript, Penn Library.jpg|thumb|The first four pages of the Aitareya Brahmana]]
The '''Aitareya Brahmana''' ({{langx|sa|ऐतरेय ब्राह्मण}}) is the [[Brahmana]] of the [[Shakala Shakha]] of the [[Rigveda]], an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to the tradition, is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya.<ref>{{cite book|last=Keith|first=Arthur Berriedale |title=Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|orig-year=1920|year=1998|page=28|isbn=81-208-1359-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDawvHc4AxgC&q=Mahidasa+Aitareya&pg=PA28}}</ref><ref>[http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/ind/aind/ved/rv/ab/ab.htm Roman alphabet transliteration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215235230/http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/ind/aind/ved/rv/ab/ab.htm |date=2008-02-15 }}, TITUS</ref>

== Authorship ==

[[Sayana]] of [[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijayanagara]], a 14th century commentator, attributes the entire ''Aitareya Brahmana'' to a single man: Mahidasa Aitareya.<ref name="ABK_1998">{{cite book |author=Arthur Berriedale Keith |title=Rigveda Brahmanas: The Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas of the Rigveda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDawvHc4AxgC&pg=PA28 |year=1920 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1359-5 |pages=28–29}}</ref> In his introduction to the text, Sayana suggests that "Aitareya" is a [[matronymic]] name. Mahidasa's mother was "Itarā" (इतरा), whose name is derived from the Sanskrit word "itara". She was one of the wives of a great [[rishi]] (sage). The rishi preferred sons from his other wives over Mahidasa. Once he placed all his other sons on his lap, but ignored Mahidasa. On seeing tears in the eyes of her son, Itara prayed to the earth goddess [[Bhūmi]], her [[kuladevi]] (tutelary deity). Bhūmi then appeared and gifted Mahidasa the knowledge contained in the ''Aitareya Brahmana''.<ref name="FMM_1860"/>

Mahidasa is mentioned in other works before Sayana, such as the ''[[Chandogya Upanishad]]'' (3.16.7) and the ''[[Aitareya Aranyaka]]'' (2.1.7, 3.8). But none of these works mention Sayana's legend.<ref name="FMM_1860">{{cite book |author=Friedrich Max Müller |title=A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mlle |year=1860 |publisher=Williams and Norgate |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mlle/page/336 336]–337 }}</ref> The ''Aitareya Aranyaka'' is undoubtedly a composite work, and it is possible that the ''Aitareya Brahmana'' also had multiple authors. According to AB Keith, the present [[Redaction (editorial synthesis)|redaction]] of the work may be ascribed to Mahidasa, but even that cannot be said conclusively.<ref name="ABK_1998"/>

=== Identification with Asvalayana Brahmana ===

The ''Asvalayana Srautasutra'' and ''Asvalayana Grhyasutra'', attributed to the sage Asvalayana, are the [[srautasutra]] and [[grhyasutra]] associated with the ''Aitareya Brahmana''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Matthew R. Sayers |title=Feeding the Dead: Ancestor Worship in Ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AOBwiZBjRMC&pg=PA14 |date=12 September 2013 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-989643-1 |pages=14 }}</ref> Some Sanskrit texts also mention a text called ''Asvalayana Brahmana''. For example, [[Raghunandana]] (c. 16th century CE), in his ''Malamasatattva'', quotes a verse from what he calls the ''Asvalayana Brahmana''. The verse is a slight variation of an ''Aitareya Brahmana'' verse.<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWLVAAAAMAAJ |year=1962 |publisher=Ramakrishna Maitra |page=252 }}</ref>

The common view is that the ''Asvalayana Brahmana'' is simply another name for the ''Aitareya Brahmana''. However, according to another theory, it might be a now-lost, similar but distinct Brahmana text.<ref>{{cite book |title=Summaries of Papers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V-4vAAAAIAAJ |year=1981 |publisher=Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan |page=16 |quote=The existence of an Asvalayana Brahmana is, though less certain, also very probable, because none of the available Rgvedic Brahmanas can satisfactorily serve as the basis of the Asvalayana Srautasutra. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Proceedings of the ... World Sanskrit Conference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6RQhAAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan |pages=117–119 |quote=That the Asvalayana School had its own Samhita, makes it more probable that it had also its own Brahmana. [...] The Asvalayana Brahmana was therefore very similar to the AB on one hand and to the Taittiriya texts on the other. }}</ref>

== Date of composition ==

The ''Aitareya Brahmana'' with some certainty dates to the 1st millennium BCE, likely to its first half.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Andhra Pradesh Journal of Archaeology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBJuAAAAMAAJ |editor=N.R.V. Prasad |year=1995 |publisher=Director of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Andhra Pradesh |page=3 }}</ref>
Published estimates include the following:
*The translator of the Brāhmaṇa, [[Arthur Berriedale Keith|A. B. Keith]] (1920), presented detailed arguments for a date in the 6th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda|last=Keith|first=Arthur Berriedale|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1920|location=Cambridge, Mass.|pages=44|language=en|oclc = 611413511|url=https://archive.org/stream/rigvedabrahanasa00keit#page/44/mode/2up}}</ref>
* [[Horace Hayman Wilson|H. H. Wilson]] (1866): "about 6 centuries B.C.".<ref name="Monier-Williams1875">cited after {{cite book |author= Monier Monier-Williams |title=Indian Wisdom |url=https://archive.org/details/indianwisdomore00willgoog|year=1875|publisher=W.H. Allen |page=[https://archive.org/details/indianwisdomore00willgoog/page/n82 28] }}</ref>
* [[John G. R. Forlong]] (1906): "not later than 700 B.C."<ref>{{cite book |author=John G. R. Forlong |title=Encyclopedia of Religions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FpXGJQeaatkC&pg=PA76 |year=1906 |isbn=978-1-60520-489-5 |pages=76–|publisher=Cosimo }}</ref>
* [[E. J. Rapson]] (1914): "possibly ''c.'' 500 B.C." for the "later books of the Aitareya Brahmana"<ref>{{cite book |author=E.J. Rapson |title=Ancient India: From the Earliest Times to the First Century A.D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lI4q7838nVcC&pg=PA159 |year=1995 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=978-81-206-1107-8 |pages=159 }}</ref>
* [[Franklin Southworth]] (2004), referencing Krishnamurti (2003): "''c.'' 7th century BCE"<ref>{{cite book|author=Franklin Southworth |title=Linguistic Archaeology of South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9i2WeeTjmKwC&pg=PT97 |date=2 August 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-31776-9 |page=97 }}</ref>
* [[Jan N. Bremmer]] (2007): "c. 800 BC"<ref>{{cite book |author=Jan N. Bremmer |title=The Strange World of Human Sacrifice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tPjVJF8roYC&pg=PA158 |year=2007 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=978-90-429-1843-6 |page=158 }}, referencing [[Michael Witzel]] (1989).</ref>

==Contents==
Forty ''adhyaya''s (chapters) of this work are grouped under eight ''pañcikā''s (group of five). The following is an overview of its contents:
* Pañcikā I
** Adhyāya I: The consecration rites
** Adhyāya II: The introductory sacrifice
** Adhyāya III: The buying and bringing of the [[Soma (drink)|Soma]]
** Adhyāya IV: The [[Pravargya]]
** Adhyāya V: The carrying forward of fire, Soma, and the offerings to the High Altar
* Pañcikā II
** Adhyāya I: The animal sacrifice
** Adhyāya II: The animal sacrifice and morning litany
** Adhyāya III: The Aponaptriya and other ceremonies
** Adhyāya IV: The cups of [[Indra]] and [[Vayu]], [[Mitra]] and [[Varuna]] and the [[Ashvins]]
** Adhyāya V: The Ajya Shastra
* Pañcikā III
** Adhyāya I: The Prauga Shastra, the Vashat call and the Nivids
** Adhyāya II: The Marutvatiya and the Nishkevalya Shastra
** Adhyāya III: The Vaishvadeva and the Agnimaruta
** Adhyāya IV: General considerations regarding the Agnishtoma
** Adhyāya V: Certain details regarding the sacrifice
* Pañcikā IV
** Adhyāya I: The Shodashin and the Atiratra sacrifices
** Adhyāya II: The Ashvina Shastra and Gavam Ayana
** Adhyāya III: The Shadahas and the Vishuvant
** Adhyāya IV: The Dvadashaha rite
** Adhyāya V: The first two days of the Dvadashaha
* Pañcikā V
** Adhyāya I: The third and fourth days of the Dvadashaha
** Adhyāya II: The fifth and sixth days of the Dvadashaha
** Adhyāya III: The seventh and eighth days of the Dvadashaha
** Adhyāya IV: The ninth and tenth days of the Dvadashaha
** Adhyāya V: The Agnihotra and the Brahmana priest
* Pañcikā VI
** Adhyāya I: The office of the Gravastut and Subrahmanya
** Adhyāya II: The Shastras of the Hotrakas at Satras and Ahinas
** Adhyāya III: Miscellaneous points as to the Hotrakas
** Adhyāya IV: The Sampata hymns, the Valakhilyas and the Durohana
** Adhyāya V: The Shilpa Shastras of the third pressing
* Pañcikā VII
** Adhyāya I: The distribution of the portions of the victim of the sacrifice
** Adhyāya II: Expiations of the errors in the sacrifice
** Adhyāya III: The narrative of [[Shunahshepa]]
** Adhyāya IV: The preparations for the royal consecretation
** Adhyāya V: The sacrificial drink of the king
* Pañcikā VIII
** Adhyāya I: The Stotras and Shastras of the Soma day
** Adhyāya II: The anointing of the king
** Adhyāya III: The great anointing of [[Indra]]
** Adhyāya IV: The great anointing of the king
** Adhyāya V: The office of [[Purohita]]

== Cosmography ==

;Section 2.7
Astronomy played a significant role in Vedic rituals, which were conducted at different periods of a year. The ''Aitareya Brahmana'' (4.18) states the sun stays still for a period of 21 days, and reaches its highest point on ''vishuvant'', the middle day of this period.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Edwin Francis Bryant |author2=Laurie L. Patton |title=The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHYnGde4BS4C&pg=PA321 |year=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7007-1463-6 |page=321 }}</ref> The gods feared that at this point, the sun would lose its balance, so they tied it with five ropes (the five "ropes" being five prayer verses). The ''vishuvant'' is mentioned as an important day for rituals.<ref name="CM_1869">{{cite book |author=Charlotte Manning |title=Ancient and Mediaeval India |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientmediaeval01mann |year=1869 |publisher=Wm. H. Allen |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientmediaeval01mann/page/360 360]–|author-link=Charlotte Manning }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Martin Haug |title=The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda: Translation, with notes |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24205 |year=1863 |publisher=Government Central Book Depot |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24205/page/n300 290]–291 |author-link=Martin Haug }}</ref> The text also mentions that the sun burns with the greatest force after passing the [[meridian (geography)|meridian]].<ref name="CM_1869"/>

The ''Aitareya Brahmana'' (2.7) states:<ref name="HS_2012">{{cite book |author=Subhash Kak |editor=Helaine Selin |editor-link=Helaine Selin |title=Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRHvCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA328 |year=2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-011-4179-6 |chapter=Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy |pages=324–328 |author-link=Subhash Kak }}</ref>

{{Quotation|The [sun] never really sets or rises. In that they think of him 'He is setting,' having reached the end of the day, he inverts himself; thus he makes evening below, day above. Again in that they think of him 'He is rising in the morning,' having reached the end of the night he inverts himself; thus he makes day below, night above. He never sets; indeed he never sets."}}

{{Quote box
| quote = '''The Sun and the Earth'''
<poem>
The Sun causes day and night on the earth,
because of revolution,
when there is night here, it is day on the other side,
the sun does not really rise or sink.
</poem>
| source = —''Aitareya [[Brahmana]] III.44'' (Rigveda)<ref>{{cite book|author=Lionel D. Barnett|title=Antiquities of India: An Account of the History and Culture of Ancient Hindustan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x40mwFwgK44C|year=1994|publisher=Phillip Warner: London|isbn=978-81-206-0530-5|pages=203 footnote 1|access-date=26 September 2016|archive-date=8 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208092840/https://books.google.com/books?id=x40mwFwgK44C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Martin Haug (1922), [https://archive.org/stream/aitareyabrahmana04hauguoft#page/162/mode/2up The Aitareya Brahmana of the Rigveda], Chapter 3, Verse 44, Editor: BD Basu, The Sacred Books of the Hindus Series, pages 163-164</ref>
| bgcolor = #FFE0BB
| align = right
}}

According to [[Subhash Kak]], this implies that according to the author of the verse, the sun does not move and it is the earth that moves, suggesting [[heliocentrism]] and [[Earth's rotation|rotation]] of a [[spherical Earth]].<ref name="HS_2012"/> According to Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta, this verse implies that the author "clearly understood that days and nights were local rather than a global phenomenon". Das Gupta adds that the text's interest in the sun's position appears to be "purely ritualistic", and the verse cannot be conclusively taken as an evidence of the author's recognition of the earth as a sphere.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta |title=Science, Technology, Imperialism, and War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJuM4FylchwC&pg=PA32 |year=2007 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-81-317-0851-4 |page=32 }}</ref> According to K. C. Chattopadhyaya, the verse simply implies that the sun has two sides: one bright and the other dark.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kshetresh Chandra Chattopadhyay |title=Studies in Vedic and Indo-Iranian Religion and Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6HkoAAAAYAAJ |year=1978 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan |page=90 }}</ref>

;Section 3.44
In section 3.44, among other things, the Aitareya Brahmana states (translation by Haug):<ref name=speyer723>{{cite journal | last=Speyer | first=J. S. | title=A remarkable Vedic Theory about Sunrise and Sunset | journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland | publisher=Cambridge University Press (CUP) | volume=38 | issue=3 | year=1906 | pages=723–727 | doi=10.1017/s0035869x00035000| url=https://zenodo.org/record/1428644 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Martin Haug|title=Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpi9jwEACAAJ|year=2016|publisher=Hanse |isbn=978-3-7411-4401-1}}; [https://archive.org/stream/aitareyabrahmana04hauguoft#page/162/mode/2up The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda: Archive], pages 163-164</ref>
{{quotation|The sun does never rise or set. When people think the sun is setting (it is not so). For after having arrived at the end of the day it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night to what is below and day to what is on the other side.<br>When they believe it rises in the morning (this supposed rising is thus to be explained for). Having reached the end of the night, it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night to what is below and day to what is on the other side."}}
Aitareya Brahmana being a Vedic corpus text and scripture in Hinduism, and the lack of any [[Mount Meru]] theories in that text, the medieval era commentators such as Sayana had significant difficulty in reconciling the Vedic era and medieval era cosmographic theories.<ref name=speyer723/> The medieval era Indian scholars kept the spherical and disc shape cosmography in the Puranas, while the astronomy (Siddhanta) texts for time keeping assumed the spherical assumptions.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kurt A. Raaflaub|author2=Richard J. A. Talbert|title=Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FH3WolaD9asC&pg=PA36|year=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-1566-0|pages=36–37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Edelmann|editor=Ravi M. Gupta and Kenneth R. Valpey|title=The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eEPfrzAwO0sC&pg=PA58 |year=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-53147-4|page=58}}, Quote: "[...] the Siddhantas (a group of astronomical texts from the fifth century that argued for a spherical earth)..."</ref>

==In linguistics==
''[[The king and the god]]'' is a text based on the "king Harishcandra" episode (7.14 … 33.2) of Aitareya Brahmana. It has been used to compare different reconstructions of [[Proto-Indo-European language]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Brahmanas]]

Aitareya Brahmana - Revision history

LeonorColangelo at 02:27, 9 February 2026